"The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves." - Bill Mollison

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Berries, Kefir & Goats

We spend much of our spare time in the summer and fall wandering the forests gathering wild edibles, mostly berries. This is our hobby, our release you could say. We go high into the mountains where nature is still wild and we are free from the things of man. These are the times that one can truly feel alive.

Many hours and days are spent in our secluded haunts finding and picking berries. It can be grueling at times, when fingers freeze in the early mornings or the afternoon heat weighs upon us. But in the end, with freezers full, such days are left to be remembered in the depths of winter when a simple trip to the freezer will supply endless amounts of fruit.

Berries from the garden and forest soon become daily meals that can be counted on to provide health and sustenance throughout the year.


Every other day, we have for breakfast a shake or smoothie made up of these berries and a few other ingredients.

Added to our breakfast drink are honey, quinoa, or flax and something called kefir. The latter is a beverage that is made by adding kefir granules to milk and allowing it to ferment.

Kefir is discussed in detail at http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html and I have also found the http://pocketsofthefuture.com/blog/ to be most helpful.

We included the following in this morning's drink - frozen huckleberries, cranberries, blackberries, currants, service berries, Oregon grapes, strawberries, elderberries, and raspberries. We delight in the nutritional value and variety of the berries knowing that if we had to purchase these same foods from the supermarket we could never afford to do so.

Below is a condensed "low quality" and extremely boring video of our summer 2008 berry picking adventures. PS -The kefir didn't come from these goats...they were much too fast for us.

2 comments:

dhan said...

whether the difference between kefir and yogurt?
Which is better between them?
It looks very tasty.. yummy

Mr. H. said...

Hi dhan,

Kefir is a milk product, very similar in taste to yogurt, but thinner in consistency. It can be used as a substitute for yogurt and is easier to make. All one has to do is add fresh milk to the kefir grains every few days to keep the culture going. It is very yummy.:)

Thanks for stopping by,

Mike

Related Posts with Thumbnails